A new poll has found that two thirds of Britons think parents or guardians should be the main people responsible for teaching children about sex.
The news comes after plans to force primary schools to teach sex education failed in the House of Lords.
Some Peers have previously pushed for such a move but the Government upheld the present law, which keeps decision-making about sex education in the hands of head teachers and school governors.
Force
The new poll, conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion, questioned 2,004 British adults in November this year.
It found that 67 per cent of those asked believed “parents or guardians” should be “primarily responsible for teaching sex education to children and teens”.
In March last year hundreds of head teachers and faith leaders criticised plans in the Children, Schools and Families Bill which would have forced all publicly-funded schools from primary level upwards to teach sex and relationships education (SRE).
In a letter to The Sunday Telegraph, signed by over 2,000 people including The Christian Institute’s Director Colin Hart, the signatories made clear that the primary responsibility for raising children lies with parents and guardians.
Undermine
And they added that while schools may be entrusted with the formal education of children, the “overall responsibility” remains with parents and guardians.
The letter said: “The Children, Schools and Families Bill undermines this principle and seeks to impose a particular ideology by means of statutory sex and relationships education from the age of five”.